Posted 28th June 2001

Alice In Monsantoland

Recently a Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser, had to appear in court for breaking a Monsanto patent. Unknowingly, he had Roundup Ready plants on his land, which got there when pollen was blown over from a neighbouring field. Nevertheless Schmeiser was found guilty.

This absurdity akin to a story from the court in Alice In Wonderland should alarm all farmers in any country who are using or are near users of GMO. Bringing GMO's into the environment is irreversible and clearly conflicting with the precaution-principle, which has also been incorporated in the Biosafety Protocol of the United Nations.

All the arguments in the world however pale beside the monumental stupidity that commerce first business, left to itself, inflicts on the planet and all that inhabit it, even the kings themselves.